Bill has biggest education changes in decades

The Education and Training Bill
2019, introduced in Parliament today, proposes the biggest
education changes in decades and is an important step
towards improving success for all our learners, Education
Minister Chris Hipkins said.

“The Bill’s rewrite of
education legislation is long overdue. Indeed one Education
Act, parts of which are still in force, dates to 1964 - when
the Beatles toured New Zealand,” Chris Hipkins
said.

“The Bill will bring all legislation on early
learning, schooling and tertiary education into a single
statute.

“New Zealanders told us, in the Kōrero
Mātauranga |Education Conversation, that they want a
learner-focused, high-quality, culturally responsive, and
inclusive education system. The Bill turns many of their
ideas for the future of education into reality.

“Many of
the changes underpin the Government’s plans to transform
schooling, following the conversation and the Tomorrow’s
Schools taskforce report.”

These include:

•
Making it clear that school Boards’ primary objectives
include, alongside achievement, ensuring that schools are
safe and inclusive, are free from racism, discrimination and
bullying, and that schools are giving effect to Te
Tiriti

• Establishing a Code of Conduct, setting
minimum conduct standards for board members

•
Introducing minimum eligibility criteria school Boards will
have to follow when appointing school principals to ensure
schools have the highest standards of leadership

•
Ensuring more local children can attend their local schools
by shifting responsibility for enrolment schemes from Boards
to the Ministry of Education. Boards will continue to have
input into enrolment schemes

• Strengthening the
rights of whānau and students by creating independent
complaint and disputes resolution panels. These would
investigate serious disputes, such as stand downs or
learning support provision, where matters cannot be resolved
with the school

• Requiring Boards to consult
with their students (as appropriate), their staff and school
communities when making school rules.

The Bill proposes
changes to strengthen the quality, viability and supply of
early learning services. Proposals include:

•
Introducing a two stage application process for early
learning licences. This would allow a Minister, in the first
stage, to assess an application against current network
capacity, the applicant’s suitability and licencing
history, and the financial position of the organisation
applying

• Requiring police vetting for all
adults living or present in a home where home based early
learning and care are offered

• Increasing the
fine for early learning centres operating without a licence
to a maximum of $50,000

• Giving the Education
Review Office (ERO) more powers to review the quality of
home based early learning services.

Other proposed changes
result from Cabinet decisions on recent consultations. These
include:

• Renaming special schools as
“specialist schools” to focus on the skills and
resources needed for their learners

• Changing
restraint requirements so teachers know that physical force
can be used, as a last resort, to keep students safe.
Seclusion remains prohibited

• Clarifying that
the right to education includes a right to attend for all
hours a school is open for instruction. The change will mean
that students needing learning support in particular can no
longer be excluded from schools for all the hours that they
are open

• Requiring state primary and
intermediate schools and kura that allow religious
instruction to do so on an ‘opt- in’ basis. This will
ensure parental consent for a student’s
participation.

“Boards, educators, learners, and whānau
will be well supported as we transition to our new education
system,” Chris Hipkins said.

“The proposed Education
Service Agency (ESA), for example, will support boards with
any changes to their roles. And the planned Leadership
Centre will grow school leadership to further improve
learner progress, wellbeing and achievement. Support for the
Bill’s changes will also come from 620 new Learning
Support co-ordinators in schools, replacing deciles with
equity funding, increasing te reo teacher numbers, and
boosting funding for early learning services.”

The
(Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill,
and the Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill, will both
be incorporated into this Education and Training Bill. It
is intended that the Education and Training Bill will be
updated to reflect the final version of these two Bills when
they are enacted.

“The Education and Training Bill will
help ensure a stronger, higher quality and more responsive
education system for all our learners. I look forward to
people giving their views during the Select Committee
process,” Chris Hipkins said.

Join the Scoop Citizen Community

20 years of independent publishing is a milestone, but your support is essential to keep Scoop thriving. We are building on our offering with thedig.nz our new In-depth Engaged Journalism platform. Now, more than ever sustainable financial support of the Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism will help to keep these vital and participatory media services running.
Find out more and join us:

“Fascist” is one of those labels with the ability to capsize any debate. Call your opponents “fascists” – or “agitators” or “terrorists” or “scum” and you’ve taken the option of mutual respect and compromise off the table. Interesting then to see the ( paywalled) Washington Post seriously debating with itself yesterday over whether… Hmm, is it now finally time to bring out the f-word in connection with the presidency of Donald J. Trump, and with his enablers in the Republican Party..? More>>

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will still be strict controls on the border, but all current rules and restrictions on businesses and services will be "essentially lifted" under alert level 1.She said the lower alert level would also put an end to restrictions for hospitality businesses, and gatherings - including funerals and tangihanga - of any size could take place..... More>>

Whatever the failings of our own politicians, spare a kind thought for the majority of Americans who did not vote for Donald Trump. Sure, it was depressing this week to watch Todd Muller clinging for dear life to his talking points on Q&A, ... More>>

“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama ... More>>

Decisions on the Action for Healthy Waterways package are supported by comprehensive environmental and economic impact analysis by leading New Zealand research institutes, universities, and private sector firms. More>>

National Party Leader Todd Muller has announced the line-up of the next Government. “New Zealand is facing perhaps the toughest time that almost anyone alive can remember. “We are borrowing tens of billions of dollars to get us through this crisis. There ... More>>

Congratulations. You are one of the 55 members of the National caucus being called together tomorrow to choose who will lead you to either (a) catastrophic or (b) honourable defeat on September 19, thereby saving some (but not all) of the jobs currently on the line. Good luck. Your decision process starts NOW... More>>

ALSO:

The Coalition Government has confirmed five Lockheed Martin C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft will be purchased to replace the existing fleet, Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. More>>

ALSO:

The New Zealand Order of Merit The Queen has been pleased, on the occasion of the celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday, to make the following appointments to The New Zealand Order of Merit: DNZM To be Dames Companion of the said Order: Distinguished ... More>>

A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package ... More>>

In this time of impending economic and ecological crises, we urgently need to aim for a sustainable or ‘steady state’ economy. In order to get there, we will need to adopt a ‘systems-thinking’ outlook taking into account the interconnections of our complex world.

The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. Using the most democratic list ... More>>

There is a fast growing movement in New Zealand that has been happening out in paddocks, fields, gardens and hill country across the nation. It is a movement that holds the promise to reshape our productive land use industries towards systems that work with the natural environment to regenerate the land. The movement is that of regenerative agriculture. More>>

The Ministry of Health has today formally released the NZ COVID Tracer app to support contact tracing in New Zealand. Kiwis who download the app will create a digital diary of the places they visit by scanning QR codes displayed at the entrances to ... More>>